Actually, those are just the speeds the shuttle needed to maintain orbit.

There is faster craft out there (including Voyager 1), the Helios probes for example reached a speed of 157,000 miles per hour, and there is quite a
lot more out there....shuttles are quite slow in comparison.

“To power a rocket, the team has devised a system in which a powerful magnetic field causes large metal rings to implode around this plasma,
compressing it to a fusion state. The converging rings merge to form a shell that ignites the fusion, but only for a few microseconds. Even though the
compression time is very short, enough energy is released from the fusion reactions to quickly heat and ionize the shell. This super-heated, ionized
metal is ejected out of the rocket nozzle at a high velocity. This process is repeated every minute or so, propelling the spacecraft.

So, they propose to "eject" a mass rearward every minute,large enough to move the craft forward, for a period of time necessary to reach a velocity
which will traverse 26 million miles in thirty days.
I can't help but wonder just how large these rings will be and therefore how large the initial craft will need to be.
Also, after they gain the required velocity, how will they slow the craft when they reach mars, and will there be enough of the craft left over for
the trip home.
Based on this, they will have to build a craft 4 times as large as they need for the first part of the trip.
I would hope these points will be taken into account before they leave.

But, they are still using the same technology for propulsion as a chemical rocket.

I just cannot imagine a scenario where the cost of creating a fusion drive would be worth sending a few people quickly to Mars. Invest a fraction of
that money in developing intelligent robots and we can find out all we need to know about Mars without needing to send anybody there.

YOU are never going to stand on Mars and watch a sunset, just like YOU never put a foot on the Moon.

Blue Shift
I just cannot imagine a scenario where the cost of creating a fusion drive would be worth sending a few people quickly to Mars. Invest a fraction of
that money in developing intelligent robots and we can find out all we need to know about Mars without needing to send anybody there.

YOU are never going to stand on Mars and watch a sunset, just like YOU never put a foot on the Moon.

Actually I was 7, when man first landed on the moon and will be about 61 by the time this potential mission to Mars comes around. The scenario in
question is with respect to overpopulation and the ability to feed our planets growing numbers. A Robot is only as good as its programing but if your
suggesting something along the lines of"Data", in Star Trek we are far away from anything like that.

Kashai
The scenario in question is with respect to overpopulation and the ability to feed our planets growing numbers.

Spreading out to other planets to colonize or farm doesn't work economically or logically. Shipping food all the way from Mars will never be
economical, considering the time and resources necessary to make it happen.

And it's not as if the entire planet will be converted to farms that will exclusively be used by Earth humans. Once you get enough people on Mars,
they will start breeding themselves and soon their population will expand to use all the resources they can produce. They'll put up "KEEP OUT"
signs pretty fast.

The only way to keep people fed on Earth is to have less people here and eliminate any warlords or governments that use food and starvation as a
weapon.

Kashai
The scenario in question is with respect to overpopulation and the ability to feed our planets growing numbers.

Spreading out to other planets to colonize or farm doesn't work economically or logically. Shipping food all the way from Mars will never be
economical, considering the time and resources necessary to make it happen.

And it's not as if the entire planet will be converted to farms that will exclusively be used by Earth humans. Once you get enough people on Mars,
they will start breeding themselves and soon their population will expand to use all the resources they can produce. They'll put up "KEEP OUT"
signs pretty fast.

The only way to keep people fed on Earth is to have less people here and eliminate any warlords or governments that use food and starvation as a
weapon.

Actually that is not sand on the surface of mars.

The resources available to us in our solar system is gargantuan. The idea being collecting all those resources and apply them to our benefit and then
continuing expanding as our technology develops.

Mars is simply the first step.

Water appears to exist pretty much everywhere in our solar system. With that what is needed is a work force capable of converting raw minerals into
useful materials. An example being for building really large sealed structures where earth like conditions can be replicated.

I know this is about the fusion drive so I'm off topic but I work in the service industry, hotels are a big part of my day. Where I'm presently
posted as a contractor to a medium sized hotel shows me that overpopulation and food supply is being seriously miscalculated in general. The hotel I
presently work throws out, every day, enough food to feed 50 or so people....It has been paid for in a sales contract between client and hotel. How
many hotels are there in the world, some way bigger than the one I frequent? If you have the coin, you have the food. Shortage is not an
issue....Mismanagement of the resource is!

Secondly and more on topic, While fossil fuels are used to power the wealth of mega corporations that sell them and in doing so, have the powers that
be scrambling to protect their interests, even if developed, a fusion apparatus to power cars and provide electrical power to people on the cheap just
isn't going to happen anytime soon on this little blue bowling ball.

Those are valid statistics but you are correct a lot of food is wasted.

In so far as building a fusion engine for personal use that is another issue However the process of Fusion generates very large amounts of
electricity. A Fusion reactor built to the scale of a modern day Fission reactor could power a city with a population of about 1 million. That is
inclusive by the way of every car in that city running entirely on electricity.

Fossil fuels will become obsolete.

Geo-politically fossil fuels make the world go round (proverbially). In space fossil fuels are effectively useless and try getting into the space
program as a person who smokes cigarettes.

The Technology necessary to operate in space will make its way to replacing what we use for fuel on Earth.

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